Lovely Rain Soaked Sunday

Lovely Rain Soaked Sunday

Things aren't as they used to be at the ball park in South Philly. In recent weeks, when the Phillies take the field, I expect them to win.

In Sunday's series finale with the Marlins, Jamie Moyer got into a whole lot of trouble in the first inning allowing the Fish to take a quick 4-0 lead. My fellow fans (Birdman I'm looking at you) quickly wrote this game off as a loss. I felt like the Phillies were extremely capable of coming back from a four run defecit.

Then the 3rd inning went down.

In a matter of minutes, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Chris Coste all hit home runs. Peppered in between the long balls were key plays by other guys: a nice sac bunt by Moyer, Shane's speed causing Hanley Ramirez to make an error, singles by Conine and Burrell, and even Abe Nunez took one for the team and got hit by a pitch. The tides turned when the Phils put up 7 runs in the fourth and the Fish were sent back to Florida with any remote hopes of a post season they had shattered.

The Phillies have been getting big contributions from almost everyone on the roster from the steady and expected J-Roll, Chase, Howard to the unheralded Coste, Ruiz, and Conine. Even Burrell made contact on Sunday, twice!

It was a great weekend for the Phillies, perhaps the only thing that didn't go their way was the success of LA and SD out on the west coast. The Phillies hold their destiny in their hands. The Dodgers are idle on Monday, so if the Phillies can beat Houston they can put a full game between themselves and LA leaving them both with 6 to play.

“I understand all the criticism and stuff,” Ertz said on Wednesday. “I’m not going to get into the details of every thought I had on that play. I’m focused on giving this city everything I have on each and every play. I promise going forward, I will do that. I think I have done that in the past.

"I understand how it looks on the film, but I’m not going to get into the minute details of what I saw on the play and what I didn’t see on the play and how it impacted the play and vice versa. I’m focused on getting better. I know I’m far from a finished product as a tight end. I’m looking forward to this week against the Redskins.”

Dave Spadaro was a guest on Philly Sports Talk this week and was also asked about the play. Guess what he had to say? You can watch the video above.

Joel Embiid 'shoots the ball with the touch of like Steph Curry'

Joel Embiid 'shoots the ball with the touch of like Steph Curry'

NEW ORLEANS -- Of all the players Joel Embiid could be compared to, a similarity between a 7-foot-2, 270-something-pound center and a 6-foot-3, 190-pound point guard wouldn’t seem like a match.

That’s exactly what Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry sees, however, when looking at Embiid and reigning MVP Steph Curry.

“He’s different than anybody that’s been in this league in a long, long time,” Gentry said Thursday before the Sixers win over the Pelicans. “He’s a tremendous talent, he really is. I’ve never seen a guy that size, and with that kind of strength, that’s got such a soft touch. He shoots the ball with the touch of like Steph Curry. It’s so soft when it leaves his hand.”

Curry is shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from three. Embiid is 45.8 percent from the floor is 44.2 percent from long range.

Embiid flashed a big smile and paused to react when hearing of Gentry’s praise. He had been feeling hard on himself after going 0 for 5 beyond the arc against the Pelicans (see story).

“Steph is probably one of the best shooters in the league right now," Embiid said. "So that compliment means a lot."